The author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum, also created a backstory for Santa that involved a surprising amount of violence between demonic forces and fey immortals. This article spotlights the bad guys for Fifth Edition Dungeons & Dragons games looking for some holiday inspiration.
[h=3]The Army of Evil[/h]Baum describes the bad guys, led by King Awgwa, in broad strokes:
Given that Baum described the awgwas as daemons in the short story retelling of similar events in "A Kidnapped Santa Claus," and yugoloths were originally called daemons, nycaloths seem like an excellent candidate for awgwas, with the ability to teleport and turn invisible.
Mike "Talien" Tresca is a freelance game columnist, author, communicator, and a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to http://amazon.com. You can follow him at Patreon.
[h=3]The Army of Evil[/h]Baum describes the bad guys, led by King Awgwa, in broad strokes:
There were three hundred Asiatic Dragons, breathing fire that consumed everything it touched. These hated mankind and all good spirits. And there were the three-eyed Giants of Tatary, a host in themselves, who liked nothing better than to fight. And next came the Black Demons from Patalonia, with great spreading wings like those of a bat, which swept terror and misery through the world as they beat upon the air. And joined to these were the Goozzle-Goblins, with long talons as sharp as swords, with which they clawed the flesh from their foes. Finally, every mountain Awgwa in the world had come to participate in the great battle with the immortals.
[h=3]Asiatic Dragons[/h]The awgwas summon up an army to face the immortals protecting Santa Claus and they bring out several heavy-hitters, including dragons. The dragons are barely described beyond their origin (Asiatic) and their fire breath weapon.
- As NPCs: Although they likely look very different, it's probably easiest to just reskin red dragons, give them a (hover) flight speed, and immunity to the prone condition. Remove their immunity to fire -- in the story, the fairies turn the dragons' breath weapon back on them. That said, 300 of them could be deadly, so keeping them young (large) or wyrmling (medium) sized will make one of them challenging without overwhelming a party.
- As NPCs: Use the cyclops' statistics but remove the Poor Depth Perception attribute and give it the Perception skill with a +1 bonus (Perception +1, passive Perception 11).
- As NPCs: Use shadow demons and give them the Invoke Nightmare ability of yuan-ti nightmare speakers.
- As NPCs: Use traditional goblins but replace their scimitar and shortbow attacks with talons that inflict 6 (1d8+2) slashing damage.
They were neither mortals nor immortals, but stood midway between those classes of beings. The Awgwas were invisible to ordinary people, but not to immortals. They could pass swiftly through the air from one part of the world to another, and had the power of influencing the minds of human beings to do their wicked will. They were of gigantic stature and had coarse, scowling countenances which showed plainly their hatred of all mankind. They possessed no consciences whatever and delighted only in evil deeds. Their homes were in rocky, mountainous places, from whence they sallied forth to accomplish their wicked purposes...Sometimes these creatures lived to become a hundred years old, but usually they fought so fiercely among themselves that many were destroyed in combat, and when they died that was the end of them. Mortals were powerless to harm them and the immortals shuddered when the Awgwas were mentioned, and always avoided them...One of the principal sports of the Awgwas was to inspire angry passions in the hearts of little children, so that they quarreled and fought with one another.
Given that Baum described the awgwas as daemons in the short story retelling of similar events in "A Kidnapped Santa Claus," and yugoloths were originally called daemons, nycaloths seem like an excellent candidate for awgwas, with the ability to teleport and turn invisible.
- As NPCs: Use the nycaloth's statistics but replace their dispel magic ability with suggestion.
Mike "Talien" Tresca is a freelance game columnist, author, communicator, and a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to http://amazon.com. You can follow him at Patreon.
